The 'Indoctrination Theory' is a popular one among Mass Effect fans. The thesis is that, based on one super-short clip in ME3's perfect ending which showed Sheppard gasping to life amongst a pile of rubble, that the whole final sequence was a battle for Shepard's mind between the Reapers, who had been subtely indoctrinating him over the course of the last three games, and Shepard himself.

Do I want closure? Of course. Do I want to learn the fate of my crew? Definitely. Do I want to build a house on Rannoch for TaliíZorah where we could live happily ever after? You bet your boshítet I do. But we didnít get that the first time, and I hope we donít get that with this new content. The Indoctrination Theory is just that -- a theory. And it developed because some fans dug deeper into the story instead of digging into BioWare. The most iconic fictional franchises make you think -- sometimes through controversy. Mass Effect is part of that hallowed fraternity. I donít want an update to take away the intrigue of the current finale or change its implied purpose. BioWare caved in from the pressure, and Iím worried that the ending, like Shepard, will be caught in the rubble -- or the rabble.

-- "As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron." ó H. L. Mencken

I still think the Indoctrination Theory makes most sense. So I'm going to believe that's what happened. Like the author mentioned in the article, if you pick the refusal ending, star child's voice turns into Harbingers. Not to mention, when the star child explains about the control ending, he points out that the Illusive man could never control Reapers because "*we* control him". We = Reapers = star child.